Arizona Considers Charging Electric Cars Tax At 1.43¢ Per Mile

For many years, Arizona was considered an electric-car friendly state, thanks to California-style tailpipe emissions and mandates which required automakers to sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions cars in order to sell in the state.

But less than a month after the Arizona Governor’s Regulatory Review Council voted to repeal the state’s Clean Cars law and adopt the less-stringent emissions standards set out in Federal law, the state is now considering charging a pay-per-mile tax on electric car use.

Like the gasoline tax, any funds from the pay-per-mile tax would be spent on maintaining the state’s road network.

“One of the only ways we pay for our roadways is through gas tax, so if they’re not paying into the gas tax system we need to find a way of closing that loophole, and getting them to pay for the roads they use,” Rep. Farley told the Cronkite News. “It’s only fair that we pay for the things we use.”

The majority of electric car owners in Arizona agree, according to Jim Stack, president of the Phoenix chapter of the Electric Auto Association.

“Someday it’s all going to be hybrids and electric vehicles,” he said. “it wouldn’t do us any good if we didn’t have any roads.”